In the early hours of 6 May, an elephant was born in a wildlife corridor that the World Land Trust (WLT) is currently raising funds to protect, in India’s northern state of Uttarakhand. Together the Wildlife Trust of India and WLT are working to create wildlife corridors throughout India; they are small parcels of land that allow elephants to roam safely from one protected National Park to another without conflict with humans. A local boy, called Sarad, told the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) that he saw an impressive herd of 30 to 35 elephants moving through the wildlife corridor near his village the previous night. In the morning when Sarad took a closer look at where the herd had been, he feared that a tiger had attacked an elephant calf. But happily, rangers from WTI were able to confirm that in fact a baby elephant had been born, which caused great excitement. It is hoped that WTI will be able to monitor the progress of the calf over the next few weeks and send us a picture. Although this may not be easy, as Dr Sandeep Tiwari (WTI Coordinator and Head, Wildlands Division), explains:

“The elephants have moved deep into the forest and it may not be possible to get pictures because the area is so large. Besides when the calves are so small, the mother is very protective and generally don’t move into areas where humans are present.”

The birth of this elephant is great news and is a clear demonstration of why we must protect wildlife corridors in India for the benefit of large mammals and humans.